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Wlodarczyk hammers home a world record

Anita Wlodarczyk took her hammer world record to a stunning 82.29m in Rio today as she became the Olympic champion with the golden touch.

Winning this title for the first time, the brilliant Polish star rubber-stamped everything the sport knew anyway - that there has never been anyone like her.

When she became the first - and still only - woman to break the elusive 80m barrier last summer with 81.08m, she always promised there would be more to come.

And so, on this fourth day of the track and field programme in Brazil, Wlodarczyk, 31, was true to her word, winning gold ahead of China’s Wenxiu Zhang (76.75m) and in third, Great Britain’s Sophie Hitchon, who broke her national record with her final round effort of 74.54m, to take bronze ahead of Germany’s Betty Heidler.

It was another memorable day for Wlodarczyk, though she did not give much away with her opening effort of 76.35m. She was just warming up and it was not long before her rivals were shown the form she was in.

In the second round, she reached 80.40m which was an Olympic record in itself before the history-making moment with her third round 82.29m.